NRL Player Jarome Luai Is Considering Taking Police Action After Being Racially Abused Online

Like every other athlete who puts their body on the line on a weekly basis purely to entertain the fans, the last thing Jarome Luai deserves is to be racially abused online.

In fact, nobody - whether you're a professional athlete or not - deserves it.

Yet here we are.

PA

Penrith Panthers five-eighth Luai has joined the growing list of sports star to cop vile racial abuse from someone hiding behind a phone or computer screen.

And quite frankly, Luai is sick to death of it and is considering taking legal action against the online troll who abused him.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 24-year-old is now weighing up whether to flag the incident with police with the hope of bringing this awful trend to a stop.

It's understood the abuse occurred after the Panthers' 24-6 victory over the Newcastle Knights when the NRL's official Instagram account posted a picture of Luai celebrating.

"It's definitely something you don't want to read and it leaves you with a s**t feeling," Luai told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"We're all different and if someone wasn't as strong as I am, they could take this comment a lot differently. It's not on.

"I've never had anything like this. I know there are a lot of trolls out there, and I'm usually pretty good with not reading it, but it's c**p we have to look at it and cop it.

"I know this person would never try saying it to my actual face."

Earlier in the week, South Sydney Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell called a press conference to make a passionate plea for the online abuse of rugby league players to stop.

It came after Mitchell unfortunately found himself on the receiving end of some racial slurs.

"It's your personal preference with what you do, and it depends on how much it actually affects you and how far someone actually goes with the abuse," Luai added.

"Good on Latrell, I respect what he is doing. I'm not too sure what I'll do right now.

"Anyone in the spotlight these days will have haters and people who want to bring you down. I'm a strong person mentally and people I don't know, I don't really care about their opinions. That's how I view it."

Topics: Racism, nrl news, racial abuse, Latrell Mitchell, Rugby League, nrl, Australia

Max Sherry

Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone's throw away from West Ham's training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.

@maxysherry